Vail march 25th

[rfarren]

This was my first trip to Colorado ever, and it did not disappoint. The first two days I went to Vail, with my friend Matt who snowboards. It was a bit annoying because any traverse to get to untracked always was preceded by complaints about how hard traversing is with a snowboard.

The first day Vail was reporting 6 inches fresh at mid mountain on top of the 17 that fell two days prior. I'm pretty sure at the top of the mountain the snow was a bit deeper than 6 inches. We headed up from Vail village and immediately made our way to the back side. We hit up the sun up bowl and then headed directly back up the sun up lift. We followed emperor's choice all the way down to the the skyline express at the base of Blue Sky Basin. Needless to say it was all untracked! We then spent the next hour and a half running laps of untracked off of Earl's express lift. The terrain was absolutely fabulous. What struck me though was the lack of competition. \/ There was never a line, and honestly we were the only 2 people back there.

After lunch, which was really needed as I was completely exhausted due to this being the first skiing since my surgery and the altitude, we skied the china bowl a few times and then hit the fronts side for some groomers. After another quick rest we headed back towards the sun down bowl for a few laps before closing the day out.

That night I slept in Dillon where my friend's condo is. The altitude there is above 9,000 and I got sick. I woke up with a splitting head ache, and a bloody nose... the air was dry. After drinking 5 glasses of water I managed to get back to sleep.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The percentage of skiers affected by altitude rises sharply with sleep altitude at 9,000+ vs. 8,000. My ex-wife was nearly non-functional for 3 days at Crested Butte in 1992 and Taos in 1993. So I got her a Diamox prescription for Summit County 1997 and she had no problems.

In my case I might sleep a bit restlessly the first couple of nights. If I get a headache one ibuprofen will usully knock it out. Of course I guzzle water constantly, just as I do at the Iron Blosam for other reasons.

This report amply illustrates the virtue of Vail to advanced skiers. The majority of Vail's visitors don't want to ski off the groomed, or will take their time getting out to the far reaches of the area.

 

[rfarren]

The percentage of skiers affected by altitude rises sharply with sleep altitude at 9,000+ vs. 8,000. My ex-wife was nearly non-functional for 3 days at Crested Butte in 1992 and Taos in 1993. So I got her a Diamox prescription for Summit County 1997 and she had no problems.

In my case I might sleep a bit restlessly the first couple of nights. If I get a headache one ibuprofen will usully knock it out. Of course I guzzle water constantly, just as I do at the Iron Blosam for other reasons.

I drank a ton so that certainly helped. I also think that I was in worse shape than normal due to my surgery and hospitalization earlier this year. Normally by this time of year I've skied around 15-20 days. However, due to my illness and my sisters wedding that was only my second day of alpine this year. I was in wretched shape at the beginning of the trip as my muscles had atrophied in the hospital bed. Where I really felt the difference was that my upper body was flailing about a bit more than usual to pick up the slack of my weaker legs. However, by the end of the trip I was much stronger and was able to go top to bottom without stopping, and really make some nice turns. Now I'm sad the ski season in the EC is coming to an end, because I'm finally back to normal strength.

This report amply illustrates the virtue of Vail to advanced skiers. The majority of Vail's visitors don't want to ski off the groomed, or will take their time getting out to the far reaches of the area.

I think it helped that it was a Wednesday as well and that Monday had been a powder day too. The locals couldn't very well take 2 days off in the period of three days! I'm sure had it been a weekend it would've been very crowded. According to my friend it was unusual not to have to wait in a lift line. Nonetheless, I've never had so much powder with so few skiers. I mean there really wasn't any competition at all. I've never experienced powder like that out west, and I have to say I prefer that way. I understand now why Icelantic use to always say it was better to go to Solitude than Alta. For him it was more about the competition. When you can get powder without having to stress about everyone else stealing your line it is wonderfully relaxing.